JAKARTA — China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visited Jakarta Friday to meet
with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalalegawa. While the two foreign
ministers agreed to expand bilateral ties, it was comments on the South China
Sea that drew the most attention.
Reaffirming closer ties, they
emphasized the importance of deepening trade and investment, agreeing to boost
bilateral trade to $80 billion by 2015, and discussed cooperation in sectors of
defense and security, including maritime and food security.
"We shared the assessment
that China and Indonesian relations are in a period of rapid development,"
said Yang, recounting their discussion about of the next stage of the bilateral
relationship. "Our two countries enjoy frequent high-level exchanges for
fruitful economic and trade cooperation, blossoming defense and security
cooperation, and people-to-people ties.”
Both ministers stressed the need
for collaboration and diplomacy — bilaterally and within ASEAN — to ensure
peace and stability in the region.
Doubts about ASEAN’s cohesiveness
emerged after the regional grouping failed to produce a joint communiqué during
their ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh last month. The group could not agree
on a position on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where China and
other ASEAN countries have overlapping maritime claims.
According to reports by Agence
France-Presse, Indonesia's Natalegawa is supporting implementation of ASEAN's
long-debated multilateral code of conduct, a proposed framework aimed at
alleviating disputes over fishing, shipping rights and maritime oil and gas
exploration.
“The very difficult issue of the
South China Sea requires countries in the region, ASEAN and China to work
closely,” Natalegawa told AFP. “Having met the Chinese foreign minister, I’m
assured that diplomacy is still on track.”
China claims sovereignty over
almost all of the resource-rich sea, which is home to vital shipping lanes, but
the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims.
Despite territorial tensions —
including China’s recent move to build the city of Sansha in a contested area —
Yang said maintaining regional peace and stability was a responsibility shared
by all countries in the region.
Because ASEAN members failed to
approve a multilateral code of conduct last month, critics say China can now
use its influence to dominate bilateral disputes with smaller neighbors.
The U.S. takes no position on the
competing claims in the South China Sea but has pushed for a binding framework
to avoid clashes or to resolve them peacefully.
Kate Lamb
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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